Is this the worst class in the game?

Willow O Whisper

Willow O Whisper

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2007

Denmark

Knights Of The Sacred Light [KSL]

Me/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex
A Warrior can, easily.

Look at the standard shockaxe - he can pressure just by hitting Frenzy, play disruption with Bull's and Shock, and spike hard.
And a good warrior will be able to do all 3, depending on the situation.

A standard SP sin could not - no matter how great he is as a player, the build he uses restricts his available options. There's not a chance in hell of him disrupting, or pressuring, or having any kind of utility other than one mean spike. While being blind? i really wan't to see a shock axe take on a anti melee mes.
Btw why do you use sp as an example?

moriz

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

R/

actually, expand "standard SP sin" to "all sin builds", since the same limitation is found on any sin build ever created (with the possible exception of the old AoD shock assassin, but that build has been surpassed in so many ways that it's not worth mentioning anymore).

another reason why sins are generally not favoured in high level gvg is because of the old "window of opportunity" philosophy. essentially, the window of opportunity philosophy dictates that the most effective way to score kills is by creating situations where the other team simply cannot react to you. warriors are the most effect profession as your frontline, because of their excellent damage potential as well as excellent disruption through knockdowns. remember, warriors can KD for 3 seconds because of stonefist insignia. most other professions scan only manage a 2 second KD. the last pride [EvIL] and treacherous empire [Te] were the two guilds that pretty much invented this style of play. they were so good to the point where they could conjure up a window of opportunity at will, and drop a monk to 60DP in a matter of seconds (that is, monk dies, gets rezzed, and immediately dies again and so on). assassins on the otherhand, cannot create this window of opportunity for their team.

remember: average players reacts to the chances given to them, truly skilled players create their own chances. warriors allows the skilled player to do so, while the sin can only hope to react.

--edited by: Tsunami Rain --

and you're still thinking in a RA/AB perspective. in gvg, there's a monk that can get rid of the blind, as well as the mesmer or ranger to disable the blind. teamplay, not individual play.

BlackSephir

BlackSephir

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

A/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by moriz
and you're still thinking in a RA/AB perspective. in gvg, there's a monk that can get rid of the blind, as well as the mesmer or ranger to disable the blind. teamplay, not individual play. No matter how many times people have said that, he doesn't get it.

I'll use simple words.
We're aren't (and weren't) talking about gvg only. We were talking abou A in Gw, that includes every aspect of the game, even frikkin solo farming, RA and AB.
So before you'll crap like "you're thinking in blahblah perspective" look what you're talking about

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobby2
lolz. What class CAN do this, then? any class should be able to change up playstyle on the go. except most sins

Tsunami Rain

Tsunami Rain

mmmmmmmm pie.

Join Date: Aug 2005

Honolulu, Hawaii

Favorable Winds [Gust]

Mo/

last warning.

Bobby2

Bobby2

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2007

Delayed in order to meet ANet's high standards

[MaSS]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coloneh
any class should be able to change up playstyle on the go. except most sins Right.

And how do you support this statement?

Mekkakat

Mekkakat

Whiner

Join Date: Aug 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coloneh
any class should be able to change up playstyle on the go. except most sins another troll post by Coloneh.

current build i goof off with in AB/RA/TA

golden fox strike
wild strike
shattering assault
impale
siphon speed
sight beyond sight (optional )
way of perfection optional (derv secondary for aura of thorns)
shadows refuge optional swapping

has anti blind, best snare in the game, passive AoE temporary snare, enchant removal, unblockable, stance canceling capabilities, a solid recharge on the chain, a good spike with impale on lower hp targets, and rock solid utility.

tell me in any way in the world how this isn't some of the nastiest pressure/spike tool out there. spread siphon, passive glance Aura/keep off blind with SBS, and stay unblockable nonstop so long as you're not freaking playing alone.

sins have tons of utility, are the only class with hybrid hex/melee (PRESSURE), and are undisputed kings of unblockable melee. pretty pathetic arguments being made here, and to all the trolls and haters out there using 1 or 2 builds to make examples, you should all be ashamed that you even consider yourselves good at the game.

moriz

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

R/

....until you eat a dshot to your golden fox strike. or any skill of your rather weak 3-skill combo. oh noez, what are you going to do now, spam siphon speed for the next 25 seconds? wow, so very useful, especially since your siphon isn't a very high spec and can be entirely countered by switching on a run buff. the fact is, all assassin builds are this easy to shut down. it's just fortunate that none of you have ever met a person who can do it.

no matter what you run, the sin will always be a one trick pony. you can fiddle around with your combo all you like, but it's not going to change that. we use 1 - 2 builds to make examples because we already know that all assassins are essentially the same (just different skills in the same old combo structure), and use those 1 to 2 builds for simplicity's sake.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bobby2
Right.

And how do you support this statement? rereading our posts would help. go back and read them. we've made plenty of examples to support our statements.

LightningHell

LightningHell

(????????????)???

Join Date: Aug 2005

Hong Kong

Guildless

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Laenavesse
And hence why it's in quotes! ^_^ It still does wonderful damage though :3 And that's all that I want from it.

And okay, that gives me a clearer picture of a spike, but still not the skill part. Still, a monk who sees the Hex (or even a sin) should be able to place at least one or two prot skills before they are ganked and thus reduce the damage. But I do see how the SP sin is a spike.

And now I have to point out your argument that there are no "other builds builds in the PvP scenario that are more effective than the SP sin." I'd have to say a no to that one. It's not the only build you can run. Anything that can incapacitate your target will do it. Shroud of Silence and any of the daze skills, for example, followed by any of the KD skills can cripple a caster. Shroud can be countered by holy veil if used on monk or general hex removal, but the KD would help delay that (unless from a monk, but that should be dead first anyway).

The SP sin deals lots of damage, no doubt about it. It gives a giant snare AND shadow steps you to the target, which is what allows for the damage to begin with. If you have KD in the line then it's even better.

But what moriz was saying was that it's basically the ONLY build a sin can use and that is not true. If you want the known instant kill, then maybe it is. But if you know that there are other ways to incapacitate a target (so you can't get all of the professions, then just work on the squishies which is what should be happening anyway) then work on it to deal as much damage as well. The reason why some builds (i.e. the two examples that were used in this thread, the Shock Axe and the SP sin) are considered and the others are not considered would be because of one's efficiency compared to another. For example, a Shroud of Silence build would be nice for kicks, and it might (probably would) get kills in disorganized environments, i.e. RA and AB (it might even not work in PvE, where stuff actually do hit pretty hard), but it just gets outclassed by better, more efficient builds in organized play. However, the reverse is not true; stuff in organized play usually work wonders in disorganized environments.

And since this thread is talking about the sin in all levels of play, we use the top-tier builds, because they are applicable to all tiers of play.

On another note, you don't need to always kill the monk first.

Mekkakat

Mekkakat

Whiner

Join Date: Aug 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightningHell
The reason why some builds (i.e. the two examples that were used in this thread, the Shock Axe and the SP sin) are considered and the others are not considered would be because of one's efficiency compared to another. For example, a Shroud of Silence build would be nice for kicks, and it might (probably would) get kills in disorganized environments, i.e. RA and AB (it might even not work in PvE, where stuff actually do hit pretty hard), but it just gets outclassed by better, more efficient builds in organized play. However, the reverse is not true; stuff in organized play usually work wonders in disorganized environments.

And since this thread is talking about the sin in all levels of play, we use the top-tier builds, because they are applicable to all tiers of play.

On another note, you don't need to always kill the monk first.
there are plenty of other high-tier builds that sins use. not to mention, if you're talking about "organized" play, that would mean each player has a specific role in the team, thus, a sin having a build designated to fit that team build, would be optimal for the team.

LightningHell

LightningHell

(????????????)???

Join Date: Aug 2005

Hong Kong

Guildless

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mekkakat
there are plenty of other high-tier builds that sins use. not to mention, if you're talking about "organized" play, that would mean each player has a specific role in the team, thus, a sin having a build designated to fit that team build, would be optimal for the team. While every player has a general role in the team, it is usually also better that every player is flexible enough to cover for any unforseen circumstances, as well. Apart from benefiting from being able to adapt to sudden crises, it also means that the player can more easily exploit situations.

Also, please suggest other high-tier builds that are used.

moriz

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

R/

and all of those builds (including the ones found in lower levels) are equality inflexible. the fact is, any sin build allows for very little variance in how they're run. if you don't believe me, try running your attack chain backwards and tell me about your results. then, roll up a shock axe and hit its attack skills backwards (as in, executioner's --> eviscerate) and tell me about your results. one of them will do nothing, the other will still hit pretty damn hard.

the argument still essentially boils down to one fact: a sin build can only serve one role on a team, while a good warrior build can serve several different roles. i think i'd rather choose the warrior, unless i know beforehand that the sin can absolutely destroy my opponents because of what they'll be using.

as for your build mekkakat, i'm gonna be blunt about it: it sucks. it doesn't spike well, it doesn't pressure well. outside of a few trivial snares, it doesn't contribute a whole lot to the team (especially since you'll need to be at half radar range or closer to use them). sure it works in AB and RA/TA, but outside of those arenas, it's quite useless.

but hey, the challenge is still on. come up with a truly versatile assassin build, that which is on the same level as the shock axe, then you'll win this argument. until then... good luck.

Mekkakat

Mekkakat

Whiner

Join Date: Aug 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by moriz
and all of those builds (including the ones found in lower levels) are equality inflexible. the fact is, any sin build allows for very little variance in how they're run. if you don't believe me, try running your attack chain backwards and tell me about your results. then, roll up a shock axe and hit its attack skills backwards (as in, executioner's --> eviscerate) and tell me about your results. one of them will do nothing, the other will still hit pretty damn hard.

the argument still essentially boils down to one fact: a sin build can only serve one role on a team, while a good warrior build can serve several different roles. i think i'd rather choose the warrior, unless i know beforehand that the sin can absolutely destroy my opponents because of what they'll be using.

as for your build mekkakat, i'm gonna be blunt about it: it sucks. it doesn't spike well, it doesn't pressure well. outside of a few trivial snares, it doesn't contribute a whole lot to the team (especially since you'll need to be at half radar range or closer to use them). sure it works in AB and RA/TA, but outside of those arenas, it's quite useless.

but hey, the challenge is still on. come up with a truly versatile assassin build, that which is on the same level as the shock axe, then you'll win this argument. until then... good luck. i've only scored at least 30 glad points with it before the update, and have held halls with one of them on my team. unblockable enchant removal not good? please tell me you're kidding.

im done with this thread, if you can't understand, you never will. high dps/unblockable/armor ignoring skills are balanced by making them conditional in every game. Rogues in WoW, sins in GWs, sins/rogues in EQ, you name it. if it can kill you in less than 3 seconds, it has to have balance. good for you, you pointed out the obvious. yes, warriors can run their spike backwards with ok efficiency, but a shock axe has what utility?? do you even know what utility is? shock is a passive disrupting tool that most warriors can't even time right outside of a 3 second cast. it will slow a target down for a bit, but thats it. you use shock axe wars like they're the multipurpose team tool, when they have ONE task, kill the target with Evis, Ag, Ex. bulls strike to snare, frenzy IAS, rush speed boost/cancel, and shock for KD/int. where's the team utility? the multiple use skills? none. shock is your best skill. the end. (btw, warrior's my main class, and i run shock axe in GvG almost always. i KNOW how good it is). you call a sin and everything they do "gimmicky", and "non-versatile", but what you're really doing is saying, "we don't like sins because the gameplay doesn't allow us to be creative with when we use our skills". sorry, thats what noobs complain about, and frankly, no one cares. SP sins, any double black sin for that matter are great, but the meta is designed to shut them down, so play something else and stop using wiki so much, and make your own builds. try shroud, try Deadly Arts games, try something different, or wait, try playing sin well for once. also, not every sin build is designed to kill a target in 2 seconds like an SP/double black sin, some use whats called utility and active pressure.

i bet you call every build holding halls gimmicks, and anything thats not running balance in GvG a gimmick too.

Bobby2

Bobby2

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2007

Delayed in order to meet ANet's high standards

[MaSS]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by moriz
rereading our posts would help. go back and read them. we've made plenty of examples to support our statements. Oh, I have been. And you yourself brought arguments to the table (though I may not agree with them). This was directed at Coloneh, who I have not seen supporting any of his statements.

And to be frank, saying a class is bad "because it can be interrupted" is just stupid. eg yer average W/x is equally worthless when Blinded. Oh Noez! Let's all bash Warriors now!

Shuuda

Shuuda

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

Guildless

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mekkakat
another troll post by Coloneh.

current build i goof off with in AB/RA/TA

golden fox strike
wild strike
shattering assault
impale
siphon speed
sight beyond sight (optional )
way of perfection optional (derv secondary for aura of thorns)
shadows refuge optional swapping

has anti blind, best snare in the game, passive AoE temporary snare, enchant removal, unblockable, stance canceling capabilities, a solid recharge on the chain, a good spike with impale on lower hp targets, and rock solid utility. Just to let you know, Assassin's remedy removes the condition before you hit, blind is removed, hence it is better for an assassin than sight beyond sight. (Last time I checked atleast.)

LightningHell

LightningHell

(????????????)???

Join Date: Aug 2005

Hong Kong

Guildless

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobby2
Oh, I have been. And you yourself brought arguments to the table (though I may not agree with them). This was directed at Coloneh, who I have not seen supporting any of his statements.

And to be frank, saying a class is bad "because it can be interrupted" is just stupid. eg yer average W/x is equally worthless when Blinded. Oh Noez! Let's all bash Warriors now! His point is, once an Assassin is denied his only ability to affect the battlefield, he is essentially dead weight; he cannot do anything else other than whatever it is designed for, be it spike or pressure.

Tsunami Rain

Tsunami Rain

mmmmmmmm pie.

Join Date: Aug 2005

Honolulu, Hawaii

Favorable Winds [Gust]

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightningHell
Constructive discussion here, please. No trolling.
Quote: Originally Posted by Tsunami Rain
last warning. ^do these posts mean nothing to you guys?

I'm sure you folks can communicate your messages without flaming each other. Disagreeing is fine but you don't have to bash each other. Fueling the flames is just as bad.

Usually I would say that I would close this thread but there is a lot to discuss here so we will take action on individuals that violate rules instead.

This is the FINAL warning for this thread.

-Tsu

LaserLight

LaserLight

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

La La Land

[NOVA]

A/

Alright...gone for a few days and this thread went to hell. Well, slid further down, anyways. As both an avid Assassin player and someone who enjoys tactical, thought-out gameplay, let me see if I can fairly sum up the problems here.

Pro-Warrior:
Warrior skills, especially the mentioned Shock Axe, perform at full effectiveness regardless of the other skills on the Warrior's bar. This allows the Warrior to use small portions of its build in different ways, letting it switch tactics on the fly to adjust to changing battle conditions. This is good, given that battle conditions can change drastically and with lightning speed in any given fight. The Warrior's natural AL provides it an excellent defense and allows it to venture further into enemy lines and do more jobs than most any Assassin can. It's a versatile, well-balanced class in which any competently designed build therein can change up jobs regularly.

Pro-Assassin:
Let's face it. Assassins hit harder than any Warrior ever created. Warrior spikes, in the terms of a killing spike delivered by Warriors alone, typically refers to a dual Warrior spike, whereas an Assassin that cannot kill its target solo is typically considered inefficient and largely pointless, if it's designed as a killing Assassin. Despite the multitudes of Assassin-bashing in this thread, an Assassin can also spec itself for disruption or pressure roles by switching out which attack sequence it uses. However, the nature of an Assassin's attack sequence essentially transforms the three, four, sometimes five skills devoted to it into a single massive skill which requires a precise ordering to work. if it does, fantastic, but if it breaks, than your huge skill is effectively interrupted. And because it eats so much of your bar, it's hard for Assassins to take a secondary offense or other utility.

An Assassin can design a skill combo that can do a lot of things, but what Moretz is getting at is that the Assassin can't break its combo down into the component skills and use them selectively as can a Warrior. Most of us consider an Assassin with a properly designed skill stream a versatile and effective fighter, but some of us, obviously, do not. And I can see their points. As much as I hate to admit it, an Assassin is not as versatile as a Warrior. Do I agree that the Assassin, as a class, requires no real skill to use and has no utility in anything but casual game formats? Of course not. I am still of the opinion that anyone who automatically says "Screw the sin, it can't do squat, let's take a Shock Axe" is cutting off a limb from his battle plan. However, the Assassin in GvG play should be taken as a support choice rather than a frontline fighter or other primary character. In that role, I believe the class could shine.

And before I get yelled at, I did some Observer-moding today to check just this point, and was very disappointed by what I saw. Not only where virtually all the teams I observed using the same general build - two Shock Axes, two/three Monks, E/Mo runner and some sort of mesmer/second El - they were all playing in the same dang Hall for Chrissakes. No real tactical variance whatsoever, the only Guilds I saw running anything different were low-ranked Guilds who didn't have the skill to figure out how to use what they had against the top 100 guys. This depresses me greatly.

Especially since Deadly Arts has some of the single most intensely damaging skills I've ever seen. Impale alone, at 16 Deadly Arts, deals over 100 damage and inflicts a Deep Wound, in a quarter of a second. Even Eviscerate has to work to get that sort of hit in, and no Eviscerate or Wearying Strike launched can hit in a quarter of a second. There are three Signets in the Deadly Arts line that can deal 90+ damage at 16 spec. Vampiric Assault, at 16, deals over 80 damage in life-steal damage. All of it may be conditional, combo-related damage, but Deadly Arts has more single-target firepower than most any other single skill line in existence. Iron Palm deals more damage than Shock and has an easily-achieved knockdown as well. Or, go the easy route and use a Black off-hand to launch straight into Vampiric Assault, then onto your real damage. It may not be a spike in the strictest sense of the term, but it's just as much damage as a Shadow Prison without having to get into nothing but weapon attack lines. Even Shadow Arts has its powerful skills, with Beguiling Haze chief among them.

personally, I find it kinda miserable that top-level GvG is relying entirely on builds over a year old, without any innovation or new things. Not even neglecting the Assassin, but basically just Holy Trinity builds - Warriors, Monks, various types of Elementalists. In top competition on down stagnation is starting to seriously suck. Can't we put aside the "Assassins suck! No, Warriors suck!" talk and just get back to the Guild Wars where people do new and different things every day?

I've typed too long, while too tired, and am not even sure what I wrote anymore. I'm going to shut up now and let people hurt me while I go drink some caffeine and monkey with my Deadly Arts builds...

Before ye get too vicious though, remember! I've got Ancient Armor. I can kill you just by shaking your hand

LightningHell

LightningHell

(????????????)???

Join Date: Aug 2005

Hong Kong

Guildless

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by LaserLight
/snip
i hav teh godly mod powerz ancient armar iz for nubz lol

To the actual post...

Quote: As much as I hate to admit it, an Assassin is not as versatile as a Warrior. Do I agree that the Assassin, as a class, requires no real skill to use and has no utility in anything but casual game formats? Of course not. I am still of the opinion that anyone who automatically says "Screw the sin, it can't do squat, let's take a Shock Axe" is cutting off a limb from his battle plan. However, the Assassin in GvG play should be taken as a support choice rather than a frontline fighter or other primary character. In that role, I believe the class could shine. The Assassin is taken in a team when the team needs a specific function done, while the Warrior is taken as a more general-purpose character.

As the Assassin requires basic gaming knowledge (specific to the game), positional awareness, tactical awareness, et cetera, one cannot say by definition that they're "skillless". However, they're often said to be so because while other classes all need such basic gaming skills, they also need other, more specialized skills; an Assassin can function with a player with general understanding of the game, while a Warrior, for instance, would not be used properly, or to its fullest potential.

You also mentioned not being able to break up the skills to use them selectively; I think the more important point to be made is that the Assassin simply cannot react to changes and exploit opportunities as a Warrior can.

Quote:
Impale alone, at 16 Deadly Arts, deals over 100 damage and inflicts a Deep Wound, in a quarter of a second. And you need how much effort to get that Impale in...?

This would be why people are calling the 'Sin inflexible.


However, this is all in a PvP context. Likely, in PvE, where rules are lax and it's not cutthroat, and where basic gaming knowledge is scarce, the Warrior would be an easier class to play, yes. It's spamfest there, anyway.

moriz

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

R/

i don't particularly think that using 1-year-old builds are necessarily boring. if that particular build still works and still works better than the alternatives, i'll use it. i also believe innovation is great, and that creativity is one of the driving factors of this game. what i really despise is creativity for the sake of creativity. let's face it folks: much of the viable skill/profession combinations of this game have been found. or at least, until the next skill update rolls in (whenever that will be). designing and using a creative, but usually wildly ineffective build generally gets to my nerves. as the old saying goes: there's no need to reinvent the wheel. creativity should come down to the level of the player, instead of the level of the build. i don't care what fancy skill combination you can load into your character. so can i. what i do care is how you use the skills you have, how you react to changing battlefield conditions, how you react to counters against you, and how (or whether) you can defeat that counter by the creative usage of your skills.

if we go back one year, i remember commenting somewhere that the assassin looked like a profession that's been designed around a 12-skill system, instead of the 8-skill system that we've always had. in hindsight, it looked like i had almost realized that the assassin was poorly designed. if we look at the arsenal of assassin skills we have available, we'll see a good number of pure spiking skills as well as some decent utility. however, because of the poor implementation of the combo system, we'll almost never see those utility skills. skills like dancing daggers, augury of death, entangling asp, or any of the deadly arts skills were originally designed and balanced around the concept of them being able to suppliment the assassin and the team. however, since the assassin generally cannot pull out a killing combo without at least devoting 5-6 skill slots to the combo, we never saw those skills used in a utility role. the only way we could make those skills viable was to buff them into the stratosphere, which created the whole deadly arts spammer fiasco we have now, which also turned those utility skills into straight-up spike and pressure skills.

in short, i believe the assassin was designed around a 12-skill system instead of a 8-skill system. as such, the assassin was poorly designed and implemented. this is also the reason why the assassin is generally inflexible.

Age

Age

Hall Hero

Join Date: Jul 2005

California Canada/BC

STG Administrator

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by LaserLight
Alright...gone for a few days and this thread went to hell. Well, slid further down, anyways. As both an avid Assassin player and someone who enjoys tactical, thought-out gameplay, let me see if I can fairly sum up the problems here.

Pro-Warrior:
Warrior skills, especially the mentioned Shock Axe, perform at full effectiveness regardless of the other skills on the Warrior's bar. This allows the Warrior to use small portions of its build in different ways, letting it switch tactics on the fly to adjust to changing battle conditions. This is good, given that battle conditions can change drastically and with lightning speed in any given fight. The Warrior's natural AL provides it an excellent defense and allows it to venture further into enemy lines and do more jobs than most any Assassin can. It's a versatile, well-balanced class in which any competently designed build therein can change up jobs regularly.

Pro-Assassin:
Let's face it. Assassins hit harder than any Warrior ever created. Warrior spikes, in the terms of a killing spike delivered by Warriors alone, typically refers to a dual Warrior spike, whereas an Assassin that cannot kill its target solo is typically considered inefficient and largely pointless, if it's designed as a killing Assassin. Despite the multitudes of Assassin-bashing in this thread, an Assassin can also spec itself for disruption or pressure roles by switching out which attack sequence it uses. However, the nature of an Assassin's attack sequence essentially transforms the three, four, sometimes five skills devoted to it into a single massive skill which requires a precise ordering to work. if it does, fantastic, but if it breaks, than your huge skill is effectively interrupted. And because it eats so much of your bar, it's hard for Assassins to take a secondary offense or other utility.

An Assassin can design a skill combo that can do a lot of things, but what Moretz is getting at is that the Assassin can't break its combo down into the component skills and use them selectively as can a Warrior. Most of us consider an Assassin with a properly designed skill stream a versatile and effective fighter, but some of us, obviously, do not. And I can see their points. As much as I hate to admit it, an Assassin is not as versatile as a Warrior. Do I agree that the Assassin, as a class, requires no real skill to use and has no utility in anything but casual game formats? Of course not. I am still of the opinion that anyone who automatically says "Screw the sin, it can't do squat, let's take a Shock Axe" is cutting off a limb from his battle plan. However, the Assassin in GvG play should be taken as a support choice rather than a frontline fighter or other primary character. In that role, I believe the class could shine.

And before I get yelled at, I did some Observer-moding today to check just this point, and was very disappointed by what I saw. Not only where virtually all the teams I observed using the same general build - two Shock Axes, two/three Monks, E/Mo runner and some sort of mesmer/second El - they were all playing in the same dang Hall for Chrissakes. No real tactical variance whatsoever, the only Guilds I saw running anything different were low-ranked Guilds who didn't have the skill to figure out how to use what they had against the top 100 guys. This depresses me greatly.

Especially since Deadly Arts has some of the single most intensely damaging skills I've ever seen. Impale alone, at 16 Deadly Arts, deals over 100 damage and inflicts a Deep Wound, in a quarter of a second. Even Eviscerate has to work to get that sort of hit in, and no Eviscerate or Wearying Strike launched can hit in a quarter of a second. There are three Signets in the Deadly Arts line that can deal 90+ damage at 16 spec. Vampiric Assault, at 16, deals over 80 damage in life-steal damage. All of it may be conditional, combo-related damage, but Deadly Arts has more single-target firepower than most any other single skill line in existence. Iron Palm deals more damage than Shock and has an easily-achieved knockdown as well. Or, go the easy route and use a Black off-hand to launch straight into Vampiric Assault, then onto your real damage. It may not be a spike in the strictest sense of the term, but it's just as much damage as a Shadow Prison without having to get into nothing but weapon attack lines. Even Shadow Arts has its powerful skills, with Beguiling Haze chief among them.

personally, I find it kinda miserable that top-level GvG is relying entirely on builds over a year old, without any innovation or new things. Not even neglecting the Assassin, but basically just Holy Trinity builds - Warriors, Monks, various types of Elementalists. In top competition on down stagnation is starting to seriously suck. Can't we put aside the "Assassins suck! No, Warriors suck!" talk and just get back to the Guild Wars where people do new and different things every day?

I've typed too long, while too tired, and am not even sure what I wrote anymore. I'm going to shut up now and let people hurt me while I go drink some caffeine and monkey with my Deadly Arts builds...

Before ye get too vicious though, remember! I've got Ancient Armor. I can kill you just by shaking your hand Sins do not hit harder than Warriors as they have three attributes,axes,hammers and swords and Warriors don't suck as well as Sins and who cares what armour you got.Don't turn this into a War vs Sin debate some play both.

Bobby2

Bobby2

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2007

Delayed in order to meet ANet's high standards

[MaSS]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by LaserLight
Warrior skills, especially the mentioned Shock Axe, perform at full effectiveness regardless of the other skills on the Warrior's bar. This allows the Warrior to use small portions of its build in different ways, letting it switch tactics on the fly to adjust to changing battle conditions. This is good, given that battle conditions can change drastically and with lightning speed in any given fight. The Warrior's natural AL provides it an excellent defense and allows it to venture further into enemy lines and do more jobs than most any Assassin can. It's a versatile, well-balanced class in which any competently designed build therein can change up jobs regularly.

...

An Assassin can design a skill combo that can do a lot of things, but what Moretz is getting at is that the Assassin can't break its combo down into the component skills and use them selectively as can a Warrior. Most of us consider an Assassin with a properly designed skill stream a versatile and effective fighter, but some of us, obviously, do not. And I can see their points. As much as I hate to admit it, an Assassin is not as versatile as a Warrior. Thanks! This is exactly the kind of explanation I was hoping to get, and the kind that will most likely help me find more 'versatile' builds for my Assassin.

In AB, I currently enjoy running Moebius Breeze, using HotO and DB as my 2 duals (punishing both stragglers and mobbers), taking Shadow Walk instead of the rez sig. One of the best things I've found about the build is that Moebius recharges the LMS and Exhausting again. So far I've managed to disrupt quite effectively, shut someone down very consistently, and the killing is fine too

Kudos to who deserve them; Moebius Breeze looks an awful lot like that Yanssassin thingy Now to beat this build.

omni77

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Oct 2007

Dragoon Army

W/

Wars are definantly more versitile. My war can pretty much use any, axe, hammer, sword or tank build. One character that can do three different types of damage. from hammers ground pounding to axes shock axe. or be a tank and run in and tank damage for a team has to be versitile.

As for a sin. Maybe not as versitile. But definantly is a killer. It seems to me like one of those classes that either your great at or suck at. not really an inbetween. until you know what you can do and when you can do it and how to do it with a sin can you really be good. seeing as they are a glass tank, that die easily in the wrong conditions. If you make any kind of mistakes people tend to call you a noob sin no matter what. practice makes perfect.

In my mind they both rock in their own ways.

Sir Pandra Pierva

Sir Pandra Pierva

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

Sardelec yelling at Tenshi

Angels Of Strife

E/

Basicly
Sin= Surprise killer, Good at getting behind the front row guys before anyone knows what is going on.

Warrior=Hits hard but you can see him coming so you can just get out of the way or prep for it.

But I usally like to combine both in pvp.

W/A sword haunter ftw
A/W mobius impailer ftw

I like sometimes combining things fromeach class to win
Warriors way of speeding up his attacks
and the sins way of jumping around.

Laenavesse

Laenavesse

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2006

The Shadow Tower

A/

the only reason why warriors are versatile is because they don't have to have an order in their skills

sins have to have the lead + offhand + dual attack.

So in that regard, yes sins become less "versatile" in their skills.

But imagine if we didn't have that limitation. Just imagination if all those skills were just like warrior's skills in which we could have them in any order and the only thing stopping us from spamming is either energy/adrenaline and the recharge time.

This might sway more with the whole "sins aren't versatile" argument, but i'm just pointing out, which i'm sure it was subtly, but i think it needs to be made bluntly, that sins are supposed to be confined to this sort of "non-versatility" in terms of the skills used and how they are ordered. I think it's because of that sins are allowed to have the high damage skills.

I think it's the PURPOSE of the sin class to do the spike damage or pressure damage. I mean, if you look at the just the concept of the class, it makes some sense. The assassin either kills his target and lives or fumbles and has to pay the price.

Yes, I've experienced my lead attack or my offhand attack getting d-shotted or even just general interrupted, and i'm always giving props to the ranger who managed to get the hit in. But when on my ranger, i aim for the same thing, even on a warrior or a dervish if there arent' any casters to poke. If you can't blind the sin or block, interrupt his chain and he's done. It's soo much fun doing that on shadow prison sins..heee...interrupting black spider or black lotus is soooo rewarding..

Having the chain interrupted is just another way to "defend" against 'em. It's just another check/balance thing.

sin's aren't supposed to replace warriors, but as they are very closely related it looks that way. They both have sharpy pointy weapons. They both are up close and personal with the opponent. Dervishes are also melee, but because they use a scythe and attacks are different they aren't usually compared to each other.

I think the Way of the Master is actually trying to open up some of that versatility. Ever come up against a sin derv? They hit surprisingly hard o_O And the barrage sins used to be big. If they had way of the master, they would have been huuuuge.

I think the problem is a lot of people want the sin to be something that's not designed for and are therefore are unhappy. It is believed to be non-versatile but that's because it was designed that way so we won't have high damage attacks going all over the place. yeah yeah, they could have higher energy/adrenal cost and what not, but that would be making it like a warrior. The chain is making the sin a sin. It has to pull off a combo. Warriors just wait for their skills to recharge by hitting things and then let loose in whatever. That is why warriors can easily be both pressure and huge damage dealers. Pressure when they can't pull of their whole skill bar at once, huge damage when they can.

I don't think this makes the sin weaker though. I just think it makes people realize they'll have to try and figure out how to get to their high damage attacks and what combo goes well. You want to be unblockable? Then go with the gold line. Want to get that dual fast? Get a hex and use something from the black line.

If you're gonna be enchanted, might as well use something from the golden line.

The sins actually have a rather large arsenal on their hands and can actually utilize the second profession better to their advantage, even with just one skill.

It is a pain to sometimes have to have a back-up off hand or lead for fear of one being blocked or something and therefore losing skills lots that could be used for something else, but it just depends on the situation. People complain if there are too little attack skills, and also if there are too much. I usually try to stick with 4-5, depending if i have a lead attack and if i use Moebius.

Oh, I still think just using two builds is kinna silly to use as representatives, but as I kinna understand and I'm waaay too tired and argue that point again, I'm just gonna let it go. There are a lot of builds out there, just first timers will use the more popular ones cos..they're popular, they've already been tested and "believed" to be the best, and it therefore makes people think it's the only thing that'll work.

Eh I'm still bleh about that point, but I'll let it alone for now *wobbles away*

CagedinSanity

CagedinSanity

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2006

Away from you.

W/

I don't flame one class, I just state what I see and what I'm bad at. Just peopel I suck at a class doesn't make the entire thing bad. It just means I suck at it ^_^

I don't see very many good PvE sins. I'd go as to say I'm not sure if I've seen any.
But in AB, I rarely see a bad one.

Sir Pandra Pierva

Sir Pandra Pierva

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

Sardelec yelling at Tenshi

Angels Of Strife

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by CagedinSanity
I don't see very many good PvE sins. I'd go as to say I'm not sure if I've seen any.
But in AB, I rarely see a bad one. I seem to see alot of really bad sins in AB in pve I just try to avoid sins in pug groups they generally don't work.

SotiCoto

SotiCoto

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2007

Drazach Thicket

Temple of Zhen Xianren [Sifu]

*Yawns*

Screw versatility.... Critical Agility + Moebius Strike + Death Blossom = More fun than anything else in Guild Wars... besides perhaps Celestial Storm (or SS in hard mode)...

For total and utter speed-freaks like me.... warriors will never be enough. I don't care how hard you can C+Space or how thick your armour is; I like pretty numbers filling the screen.


But then when I let loose on the Ranger Boss's mob in Raisu Palace with Celestial Storm on my Ele.... The screen went yellow from all the damage indicators and I had a squee-fit as the entire group dropped dead (and the skill recharged from boss-death)....
Yeah.... but aside from that and the occasional SS mob-death.... Spamming Death Blossom repeatedly at +33%IAS is sex.

O'course no conditions and no utility skills make it a one-trick circus... but it is a NICE trick! ^_^

*Purrs at the thought of all the number-blood from that huge Skree mob yesterday*

Snow Bunny

Snow Bunny

Alcoholic From Yale

Join Date: Jul 2007

Strong Foreign Policy [sFp]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Pandra Pierva
I seem to see alot of really bad sins in AB in pve I just try to avoid sins in pug groups they generally don't work. QFT

I think the whole Naruto mentality is the biggest mentality-issue with regards to assassins.

BlackSephir

BlackSephir

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

A/N

They're called Narutards... Horrible creatures.

DudeManOzzy

DudeManOzzy

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Sep 2007

Your collective imaginations

Beer Appreciation Society [ChUg]

A/

I play a sin, and i'm proud of it, I don't want to sound like i'm bragging, but i'm probably better than most other sins i've played with, because, as previously said, they just pick it thinking they can just run in and kill everything just because they look cool, i've only ever seen a few well played sins, and if any of them are on this forum, I give them a giant huzzah for keeping sins from being hated and despised.


WELL DONE ALL YOU DECENT SINS OUT THERE!


as for the other ones i've played with... go look up the definition of: tactics

Laenavesse

Laenavesse

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2006

The Shadow Tower

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by SotiCoto
*Yawns*

Screw versatility.... Critical Agility + Moebius Strike + Death Blossom = More fun than anything else in Guild Wars... besides perhaps Celestial Storm (or SS in hard mode)...

[....]

Yeah.... but aside from that and the occasional SS mob-death.... Spamming Death Blossom repeatedly at +33%IAS is sex.
QFT xD!

Critical Agility is hands down the most awesomest thing. If you add it to the Shiro killing build it's INSANE at how fast he goes. xDDDD

jaeharys targaryen

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2006

USA

Picnic Pioneers[asian characters]

E/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mickey
....I am tying myself to a chair right now to not flame this comment. your not alone

jaeharys targaryen

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2006

USA

Picnic Pioneers[asian characters]

E/Mo

Quote:
Let's face it. Assassins hit harder than any Warrior ever created.
i lol'd
Quote:
16 spec. i lo'd harder
Quote:
personally, I find it kinda miserable that top-level GvG is relying entirely on builds over a year old laser better be paying my med bill
i broke an arm when i fell laughing out of my chair

Bowstring Badass

Bowstring Badass

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Character selection screen figuring what I want to play...

Purple Lingerie - :D

Let This Thread Die Already Please.

critical dagg3rz

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Aug 2007

Omg My House Is On Fire [brb]

A/

:O r u kidding me sins r the best!!

Yanman.be

Yanman.be

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

Belgium

[ROSE]

A/

critical dagg3rz, I quote Bowstring Badass: Quote:
Let This Thread Die Already Please.

gloria vander belt

Banned

Join Date: Jul 2007

Dragons Lair

United Farmers Of Europe[FOE]

W/

O.K there is no 'WORSE' proffession, theres the main roles and theres the support roles

Main roles(always used no matter what area)
Warrior-takes all the damge
Monk-healing/protecting
Necro- depends on area
Elementalist- AoE/high amounts of damage

Support roles(replacible by each other)
Ranger-sniper, not necciserally needed
Mesmer-degen/shut down etc, easily replaced
Assassin-shadow step in do damage apply poison or bleeding to enemy shadow step out, easily replaced
Ritualist-what ever u want i preffer spirit spammers, easily replaced
Paragon-i have always thought of these as a tank/ranger lol, easily replaced
Dervish-depending on build can replace a tank, but a tank is preffered, easily replaced


now this thread should die!

Snow Bunny

Snow Bunny

Alcoholic From Yale

Join Date: Jul 2007

Strong Foreign Policy [sFp]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gloria vander belt
O.K there is no 'WORSE' proffession, theres the main roles and theres the support roles

Main roles(always used no matter what area)
Warrior-takes all the damge
Monk-healing/protecting
Necro- depends on area
Elementalist- AoE/high amounts of damage

Support roles(replacible by each other)
Ranger-sniper, not necciserally needed
Mesmer-degen/shut down etc, easily replaced
Assassin-shadow step in do damage apply poison or bleeding to enemy shadow step out, easily replaced
Ritualist-what ever u want i preffer spirit spammers, easily replaced
Paragon-i have always thought of these as a tank/ranger lol, easily replaced
Dervish-depending on build can replace a tank, but a tank is preffered, easily replaced


now this thread should die! Quite possibly, a top ten worst post of all time.

You fail sooooo hard at guild wars it is inconceivable.

/close thread

Tyla

Emo Goth Italics

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Bunny
Quote:
Originally Posted by gloria vander belt
O.K there is no 'WORSE' proffession, theres the main roles and theres the support roles

Main roles(always used no matter what area)
Warrior-takes all the damge
Monk-healing/protecting
Necro- depends on area
Elementalist- AoE/high amounts of damage

Support roles(replacible by each other)
Ranger-sniper, not necciserally needed
Mesmer-degen/shut down etc, easily replaced
Assassin-shadow step in do damage apply poison or bleeding to enemy shadow step out, easily replaced
Ritualist-what ever u want i preffer spirit spammers, easily replaced
Paragon-i have always thought of these as a tank/ranger lol, easily replaced
Dervish-depending on build can replace a tank, but a tank is preffered, easily replaced


now this thread should die! Quite possibly, a top ten worst post of all time.

You fail sooooo hard at guild wars it is inconceivable.

/close thread QFT.........